Thrillville - Developer Diaries Week Six

Just call it "research..."

The stars of the theme park show for us are the roller coasters. There are many different types of coasters in the world, ranging from the classic wooden coaster (looks beautiful and scares you to death as you shake rattle and roll along it) to super-modern coasters that "fly" you around or hurtle you vertically towards the ground. The great thing about Thrillville is that, thanks to our "research," we've got pretty much any type of ride for you to place down, build and ride to your heart's content. Frontier as a company is actually a member of the European Coaster Club and we're avid readers of its First Drop magazine, which lets us keep abreast of what rides are coming out in what parks.

We also have a secret weapon - we're lucky enough to be friends with a guy called John Wardley, who is a real-life roller-coaster designer and can count such coaster greats as Air, Oblivion and Nemesis to his name. John is a fascinating guy to talk to and we've learned so much from him about parks and roller coasters in particular. He used to be involved in making props for magicians and then stage design for major London theater productions. He draws heavily on that experience to create spectacular illusions and he constantly concerns himself with the emotions that people riding his rides will be experiencing from start to finish.